Methodology This study was conducted in Burkina Faso from June 2011 to February 2015 in four phases.

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1 Dr. Jonas Wanvoeke, Cotonou, Benin With the objective of modernising smallholder agriculture, several organisations have designed different micro drip irrigation kits for the irrigation of smallholder farms in the developing world. As a promising technology for more efficient water and labour management and improved nutrition and food security outcomes, micro drip irrigation has appealed to many governments and development agencies. One notable example is their adoption and distribution as part of the African Market Garden (AMG) project The African Market Garden in initiated by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semithe Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa, which uses micro Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). drip irrigation to improve horticultural production. The AMG was designed as an integrated system to improve the Source: Alina, Flickr Creative profitability of small farmers horticultural production in the Commons Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa by means of drip irrigation. 1 Following the introduction of drip kits in 2004 by the AMG project, eight successive projects were initiated for the promotion of drip kits between 2004 and 2015 in Burkina Faso. All of these projects were documented as successes with their promoters and designers hailing drip irrigation as a promising technology. 2 However, the question remains, to what extent is this apparent success supported by the ongoing independent use of drip irrigation by farmers? This is a valid question as, despite the enthusiasm for drip kits among development agencies and the successes claimed by its promoters and designers, there is no evidence of sustained use of drip kits in the field. 2 Methodology This study was conducted in Burkina Faso from June 2011 to February 2015 in four phases. Global Water Forum 1

2 June to August 2011 was an exploratory phase and consisted of a diagnostic study of drip dissemination efforts in Burkina Faso. During this phase, key actors from drip irrigation and development projects who have promoted the technology over the last 15 years were identified. 87 experimental drip sites were inventoried with the help of development actors. From November 2012 to November 2013, actors with an interest in the promotion of drip irrigation were interviewed and joint field trips conducted. From November 2013 three ongoing projects promoting micro drip kits were analysed in-depth and additional interviews and field visits conducted. In February 2015, a short visit was organised to revisit the operational drip sites to assess how the situation had evolved after the projects end. Results Our results showed that farmers do not display the same level of enthusiasm for drop kits as many development agencies. In Burkina Faso, drip irrigation kits were widely regarded as a success due to the number of kits disseminated by development agencies rather than their sustained use in farmers fields. High enthusiasm for the illusive drip kits Traditional drip irrigation allows the precise and controlled application of water and fertilizer onto large-scale crops by allowing water to drip slowly near a crop s roots through a network of valves, pipes, tubing, emitters, or drippers. Much of the initial criticism surrounding this conventional drip irrigation method centred on the high initial investment required and its failure to meet the needs of smallholder farmers in developing countries. 3 For many subsistence smallholder farms the standard systems intended for large areas of land were too expensive and complicated, making them poorly suited to small-scale farming. 4 Global Water Forum 2

3 To address this, micro drip irrigation kits were developed specifically for smallholder farmers in the developing world. Regardless of the system and the manufacturer, the micro drip irrigation principle is the same as for large-scale irrigation: the drip kit operates under low pressure to provide localised irrigation to a small plot, from a few square meters to a few hundred square meters. A complete drip kit consists of four components a water tank, a simple control head (valve), a filter and the drip lines (see Figure 1). Different types of drip irrigation kits, including bucket kits, drum kits, and family drip kits have been designed to suit different plots. 5 Figure 1: Schematic representations of micro drip irrigation kits. Sources: left -Postel et al. (2001); right Pasternak and Bustan (2003) Micro drip kits were promoted as a suitable technology to help smallholders overcome food insecurity and rural poverty. 1 The technology has been received with much enthusiasm by development agencies and a significant network of actors now promotes the technology, creating an upward spiral of success. This is largely because national governments saw initiatives involving smallholder drip irrigation as offering a potential contribution to their food-security agendas, while NGOs, development agencies and drip irrigation manufacturers saw the technology as a conduit for pursuing their own goals. 2 Drip is widely promoted by several funding agencies, international and national NGOs, research organisations, private companies, and small-scale entrepreneurs, as well as national governments, all with their own agendas. 6 The result of this enthusiasm for drip has been the funding and launch of eight projects since AMG. This multiplication of projects is testimony to the apparent success of previous efforts to disseminate drip irrigation kits by a wide range of development actors. Nevertheless, ten years after the first project promoting drip irrigation in Burkina Faso, it is a challenge to locate sites, aside from demonstration plots established by projects, where farmers are still Global Water Forum 3

4 using micro drip irrigation without significant external support. 7 All the farmers interviewed for this study stopped using drip kits when the projects ended and reverted to using traditional materials (calabash, bucket) to irrigate their vegetables. Farmers have even abandoned the demonstration plots of projects that were recently closed. Drip kits continue to be utilised in fields only during periods of assistance from development projects. Measuring the success micro drip irrigation kits Despite this trend, micro drip kits are considered to be a positive and effective development tool by development practitioners. Our research showed that each practitioner uses a distinct indicator that is appropriate for their individual interests to measure the success and relevance of drip kits. In many of the reports, articles and magazines that reported the success of drip kits during the different projects, the metric of success was mainly based on the number of drip kits disseminated. 2 For example, ICRISAT reported in 2006 that 2,000 drip kits were distributed in nine Sahelian countries and thus claimed the distribution as the Sahelian success. 8 Like ICRISAT, all the development projects in Burkina Faso were claimed to be successful based on the number of kits disseminated or sold and the number of farmers trained (see Table 1). Table 1 shows that other projects have used the same indicator of success: the number of micro drip kits inserted in rural areas. In most cases these numbers are self-generated and not verified by independent evaluations or supported by feedback from users. As explained by a former AMG technician in Burkina Faso: We were just distributing the drip kits, for free, to anyone, either Table 1: The metrics of success of different to individuals or to organisations who requested it. projects. Source: project reports and fieldwork. We were not interested in where the kits would end up and whether they would be used. Still, Global Water Forum 4

5 organisations and promoters remain proud of the numbers of kits distributed and use them as proof of the use of drip kits in the field. The number of drip kits distributed and the successes claimed do not reflect the reality observed in the field. Most of the farmers who received the drip kits stopped using the kits once the projects ended. Some technical, social and economic factors were identified by Kulecho and Weatherhead 9 and Belder et al. 10 to explain why farmers stopped using drip kits when development end projects ended. Wanvoeke et al. 2 highlight that only one out of the 245 micro-drip kits distributed by the AMG project in Burkina Faso was still in use in 2012, echoing findings from other studies done in Zimbabwe 10 and Kenya 9, where farmers discontinued micro-drip kits once the projects promoting them had ended. Conclusion Our results suggest that drip irrigation has been deemed successful only because of the reporting bias of promoters. This study has shown how most of the development projects promoting drip irrigation have used the number of kits distributed or sold as evidence of the technology s success, regardless of whether the kits were actually used. A more accurate evaluation of success of new irrigation technologies would be the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of adoption and use by farmers. This alternate approach could be used to reduce reporting bias and improve development outcomes in the future. References: 1. Woltering, L., Pasternak, D., & Ndjeunga, J The African market garden: The development of a low-pressure drip irrigation system for smallholders in the Sudano Sahel. Irrigation and Drainage, 60(5), Wanvoeke, J., Venot, J. P., Zwarteveen, M., & de Fraiture, C Performing the Global Water Forum 5

6 success of an innovation: the case of smallholder drip irrigation in Burkina Faso. Water International, 40(3), Kay, M Smallholder irrigation technology: prospects for sub-saharan Africa (Knowledge Synthesis Report No. 3). Rome, Italy: FAO/IPTRID. Pasternak, D., & Bustan, A The African Market Garden Encyclopedia of Water Science,, 1(1), Postel, S., Polak, P., Gonzales, F., & Keller, J Drip irrigation for small farmers: a New Initiative to Alleviate Hunger and Poverty. Water International, 26(1), Wanvoeke, J., Venot, J. P., Zwarteveen, M., & de Fraiture, C Farmers logics in engaging with projects promoting drip irrigation kits in Burkina Faso. Society and Natural Resources, 29(9), Wanvoeke, J., Venot, J.-P., de Fraiture, C., & Zwarteveen, M Smallholder drip irrigation in Burkina Faso: The role of development brokers. Journal of Development Studies, 52(7), ICRISAT. (2006). Nurturing the seeds of success in the semi-arid tropics (Annual Report). Pantacheru, India: ICRISAT. Kulecho, I. K., & Weatherhead, E. K. (2005). Reasons for smallholder farmers discontinuing with low-cost micro-irrigation: A case study from Kenya. Irrigation and drainage systems, 19(2), Belder, P., Rohrbach, D., Twomlow, S., & Senzanje, A. (2007). Can drip irrigation improve the livelihoods of smallholders? Lessons learned from Zimbabwe. Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Jonas Wanvoeke is a social scientist with professional experience in the field of agricultural research for development. He holds a MSc and a PhD from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. His research focused on understanding the discrepancies between the dissemination and the use of the micro drip irrigation kits in Burkina-Faso. The views expressed in this article belong to the individual authors and do not represent the views of the Global Water Forum, the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Global Water Forum 6

7 Water Governance, UNESCO, the Australian National University, or any of the institutions to which the authors are associated. Please see the Global Water Forum terms and conditions here. Global Water Forum 7